In Our Nature

Hello everyone! My name is Elena Hamblin, and I’m thrilled to join UW Sustainability as the Outreach and Events Intern! Born and raised in Seattle, I’m a senior double majoring in Political Science and International Studies, bringing a deep passion to intersectional sustainability. My previous experience as a NextGen Climate Equity Intern at the King County Department of Natural Resources allowed me to dive into community-centered climate action, helping implement the county’s strategic climate action plan.

At UW Sustainability, I'll be working with the...

UW Recycling answers 10 common recycling myths that pop up on campus.

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Sustainability is part of the fabric of the University of Washington. One of the ten goals in the UW Sustainability Action Plan is to produce ten percent less solid waste by 2025. This means reducing the amount of waste the UW sends to the landfill by ten percent.

Rethinking and reusing items are some of the most impactful ways to move towards our goal. Programs across the UW focus on rethinking and promoting reuse. Below are programs offered at the UW Seattle campus.

The Washington & Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC) is now accepting proposals for the next conference, to be held March 5-7, 2025, at Portland Community College. The conference theme is "Cultivating Sustainable Communities."

Submissions for program content, speakers and sessions will be accepted until October 18, 2024. See the full details below or as a PDF.

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The phrase recycling contamination isn’t clear to people outside of the waste industry. Let’s break it down:

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, contaminate means "to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association" or "to make inferior or impure by admixture." In recycling, a contaminant is something that should not be in recycling because it can degrade other materials or the recycling process.

Common recycling contaminants that damage materials are food and liquids. Food and liquids in...

As we look toward the Fall quarter, I’m encouraged by our accomplishments of the past academic year and even more excited about what’s to come.

Over the past few months we’ve completed UW’s first comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Inventory, introduced a proposal to reduce the University’s emissions from air travel, started the process of creating the next Sustainability Action Plan and much more.

Our team has also grown over the past few months. I’m pleased to introduce three new UW Sustainability staff members: Campus Sustainability Fund Program Director Danny Arguetty; Planning...

When we talk about sustainability, we need to zoom out to recognize the deep connections we as a people have with our environment. If we only think about practicing sustainability from a traditional environmental perspective, focusing only on ecosystems and conservation, it is easy to lose sight of these connections. Keeping a primarily ecological view such as this one makes it easy to fall into the trap of thinking that nature exists separately from people, and ignoring the perspectives and realities of much of the world. 

This thought process neglects the distinctly social...

Even when we do our best to reduce food waste, it's inevitable some scraps will need to be disposed of. It’s important to ensure that this waste ends up in the proper receptacle - your compost bin!

The benefit of composting is twofold; it prevents food from entering landfills and emitting methane, while also allowing for the material to be reused to increase soil nutrients. By diverting food waste from landfills we are preventing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing transportation costs and creating a beneficial resource...

Emily Adams has joined UW Sustainability as the Project and Engagement Specialist. In her role, Emily will focus on engaging students and staff around sustainability. Emily comes to the University of Washington from Vici Health Sciences, a research and development focused pharmaceutical startup, where she served as the Business Development Manager. Emily brings a strong and diverse skillset to UW, including a comprehensive background in sustainable strategy, project management, and collaborative engagement. Prior to her work at Vici Health Sciences, Emily worked as a Product Manager at...

The inaugural National Sustainability Society (NSS) conference will be held this Fall at the University of Washington on September 9-11, 2024.

The National Sustainability Society is a community for everyone in the field of sustainability: researchers, students, policy-makers, and practitioners alike. This national conference will bring together academics, students, and practitioners within the field of sustainability to build consensus on...